Peconic Bay Winery bottles final wine
Two months after closing up shop, Peconic Bay Winery announced Friday it’s bottling its final wine for sale to the public.
The final release — black labeled Lowerre Family Estate — is a 2010 vintage red blend of the winery’s vineyards on Oregon Road in Mattituck, as well as the original old vines on Main Road in Cutchogue that surround the tasting room itself.
“Early in 2009 we sat down to blend a ‘tete-de-cuvée’ or a grand reserve style,” general manager Jim Silver said in a press release. “We named that blend after the family that owns the winery and dressed it in a beautiful black label and heavy glass.”
It is a bittersweet moment for Paul Lowerre, owner and president of Lav-Cor Agricultural, Inc., the parent company of Empire State Cellar and Peconic Bay Winery. He said in a release the decision to stop production was based on economics.
“We still farm over 52 acres of premium grapes in Cutchogue and in Mattituck, so I’m not going to say we’re finished producing wine – but we’re most likely finished making wine for ourselves,” he said in the release.
In January, Peconic Bay Winery closed its tasting room to the public and transferred operations to the Empire State Cellars store at Tanger Outlets in Riverhead.
At the time, Mr. Silver was adamant that the winery, founded in 1979, had no plans to close its Cutchogue location altogether.
But six months later, in August, the winery, tasting room and 25 acres of planted vineyards on Main Road was put on the market.
Mr. Lowerre, who bought the winery in 1999, said the 30 acres of vines on Oregon Road are not for sale.
Russell Hearn, chief operating officer at Premium Wine Group in Mattituck, will oversee vineyard maintenance and acquire the 2013 grapes, Mr. Silver said.
The final wine is a blend of 60 percent Merlot, 30 percent Malbec and 10 percent Cabernet Franc, according to a release.
The wine was aged for more than 18 months in older French barrels, mostly two to four years old. A total of 400 cases were produced.
The wine will be sold at Empire State Cellars, retailing for $49 per bottle. Three-bottle wooden cases are also available for $159. A limited number of 375-milliliter bottles will sell for $29, magnum bottles for $109 and double-magnums for $249.
The wine will be available for tasting at Empire State Cellars through Thanksgiving.
